Instead of starting at the beginning, let’s start somewhere in the middle. You know, just to shake things up.

I’m quoting from this article dated the 3rd of August 2007 and written by Zalina Lee, which is housed on Kakiseni.com, a wonderful website dedicated to the local arts scene. The article in question talks about an elaborate local amateur production of a theatrical musical which was staged by Cempaka Schools (aka Sri Cempaka) in July 2007, and how it went above and beyond the expectations placed on what is usually a nominal a school production targeted solely to the parents of the kids involved. The musical’s name is “The Witches of Oz”.

“Based on the Broadway hit “Wicked” (itself based on Gregory Maguire’s “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West”, a revisionist look at L Frank Baum’s classic), the performance revolves around two protagonists: the first, a piece of shallow blond fluff, well played by 11-year old Claudillea Alexis Juliette Holloway; and the other, an outcast olive-skinned witch, played by fellow schoolmate Julie Chan Nuo En.

It was indeed an impressive performance. No school hall I’ve ever graced actually had a 42 member strong orchestra, 26 member strong choir off-stage, and what amounts to more people actually being involved in the production as opposed to those who attended it.”

The full article is here, praising the wonderful cast. Another item of note is this:

Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, and Tun Dr Siti Hasmah were among the guests, which was a real treat and an honor in itself to any production, much less a school one. From my perch on the second storey, I couldn’t tell if they were suitably impressed by the extremely high standard of performance, but I know I was.

Whoa, the former Prime Minister was there? What an audience! The article continues to talk about the high production values, which are actually clearly visible from the photographs taken. They certainly pulled out all the stops on that one.